"Whites-Only" PA Pool Draws Protesters, International Criticism

The Washington Post today is focusing attention on a pool in Pennsylvania that told Black children they couldn't swim there because . . . they're Black.

Although lawsuits are certainly an option in this case, I actually think that the protests these children are participating in will prepare them better for the challenges that America has in store for them. Of course, lawsuits and protests are not mutually exclusive; they're often complementary approaches to problem-solving.

Color of Change (organizing demonstrations and a petition drive) as well BlackNetAction and afrosphere members and AfroSpear members have been blogging and advocating about this since the incident occurred two weeks ago, both to organize protests and to bring the attention of the national and international press to bear upon this outrageous color-aroused abuse of children on the part of the "whites-only" club.

As I posted at my blog some days ago:

Black Children Campers in Pennsylvania Denied Access to "Whites Only" Swimming Pool
It sounds like Jena, Louisiana all over again. A camp for Black children pays $1,900 so that their children can swim in the pool of a private club in the area once a week. However, when the Black kids arrive and get into the pool, all of the white kids leave the pool. And then a camp employee informs the Black kids that the pool is for whites only and doesn't allow Black bathers.

As Jack and Jill Politics reports,

Kids at Creative Steps Day Camp were thrilled to go swimming once a week at the Valley Swim Club. But after only one trip to the private club, they were…

“I heard this lady, she was like, ‘Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?’ She’s like, ‘I’m scared they might do something to my child,’” said camper Dymire Baylor.

The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers’ first visit to the pool suggested otherwise.

“When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool,” Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. “The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately.” Jack and Jill Politics

It doesn't take a genius to divine that these Black kids are hurt, embarrassed, ashamed and furious. So, do we wait until one of the Black kids beats up one of the white kids and then is charged by police with attempted murder, or do we protest this "white pool" right now . . ?